Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 74.djvu/258

254 of his house, and still fewer were on really friendly terms with him, as we ordinarily use that phrase. While he had but little to do with his neighbors he never seems to have had any enemies.

Eggert's first start in making more money than usual was at the time of the great outbreak of the American Phylloxera in the vineyards of Europe, destroying immense numbers of the vines and threatening the entire wine and grape industry of Europe. It was finally discovered that the American native grapes might be used as stocks upon which to graft the more susceptible European varieties, so that a vine was obtained which had roots of the American resistant species with the top of some desirable but susceptible European species. This work resulted in an immense demand for the seed of some of our native species of grapes. Eggert's knowledge of botany led to his being recommended as a suitable person from whom to get these seeds. For at least two or three years he made a business of collecting and selling them to foreign countries. The business was quite remunerative and in the proper season he is said to have made several hundred dollars a month in this way. He seems to have kept up his carrying of papers at the same time. At first he carried them on his back, taking immense loads in a bag slung over his shoulder. As his business grew he bought a horse and wagon and still later he employed others, so that at one time he conducted a considerable business of this kind. He never relinquished his botanical work, and in early days he collected specimens for sale to botanists and for use in colleges and schools, thus making some little money. In later years his left arm and hand became affected with a partial paralysis which he attributed to his severe work in carrying such heavy weights of papers slung over that shoulder. His money he invested in farms and similar property, and he succeeded in amassing considerable property. In his personal habits he was always very frugal, his only luxury seeming to have been his botanical collecting. In 1896 he sent to Germany for his nephew, August Eggert, and turned his greenhouses over to him to run. This nephew lived more or less intimately with him. Mr. Eggert was always of a peculiar disposition, apparently being constantly in fear of some attempt upon his life. He had hallucinations in which he thought every one had designs upon his life, and these became worse as he grew older. His mind was undoubtedly unbalanced, and on the night of April 18, 1904, he shot himself with a revolver.

As mentioned above, Eggert early learned botany and collected extensively all of his life. He collected assiduously all around St. Louis for a considerable distance, and his collection probably represented the flora of this district better and more completely than any other ever made. He also went on collecting trips to various parts of Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas, and the southeastern states. He seemed to possess a genuine love for botany, and his